The Grenning Gallery is pleased to present its 17th Annual Solo Show for Ben Fenske! The show will be on view from August 29th - September 22nd. Please join us for the opening reception on Thursday, August 29th, 6:30 - 8:00 PM.
It’s that lovely time of year, when the humidity tamps down, a cool breeze picks up, the sun remains whole past 7 pm, and the bustling jam-packed streets on the South Fork start to feel a bit emptier. After the high season of summer begins to slumber, a singular unassuming dynamo finally lands from overseas to unveil his latest series of impressive neo-impressionist paintings. Ben Fenske (b.1978, Minnesota) is known for his spectacular paintings of familiar, commonplace subjects. The moments Fenske chooses to capture are seemingly simple; pretty flowers, a sumptuous lunch setting, or a woman seated beside a window, reading a book, or taking an afternoon nap. Outdoors, he paints her walking a dog along the hills of Tuscany, standing along the Harbor’s shoreline, fixing up her hair, bending over to collect seashells, or again, taking an afternoon nap, but this time enmeshed in the summer grass. These moments could be overlooked at first glance, yet it’s Fenske’s use of urgent, slap-dash brushstrokes, a vibrant mix of colors, and a continuous investigation of the colors cast by natural light that result in overwhelmingly mesmerizing paintings.
With the Tuscan countryside at his doorstep, it would be difficult to not feel drawn to the outdoors. However, Fenske doesn’t paint for the perfect summer day that Italy so often offers up, he searches for the interesting light effect that the atmosphere may create, whether it be a foggy morning with a storm on the horizon or a blindingly bright sunny afternoon. Last year, Fenske seemed to be taken by the darker earth tones and muted neutrals around him. This year, Fenske digs heavily into his lighter yellow, green, and blue paints for a new take on familiar themes.
Fenske’s largest work of the show is a composition we have not yet seen from him. A woman (his muse, and our painter, Amy Florence) walks with their dog Buddy, in a vineyard near his house. Although breathtaking, Fenske stops short of idealizing the scene—Amy wears a coat and boots, and Buddy trots briskly ahead, almost escaping being painted into the canvas. Fenske is able to capture that this is just another day, trudging into the brisk air to take the dog for a walk—and along the way, passing through the mesmerizing landscape of where they live and work.
In summer now, Fenske turns his attention to a feast of cantaloupe and wine (along with the ever-present blue teapot)—speckled with light through a canopy of foliage. One can’t help but want to be sitting there, at the place Fenske has set for the viewer, diving into the fruit being warmed by the sun and cooled by shade. Just a suggestion of the hilly landscape beyond peaks through the breezy trees.
Even with the most picturesque atmosphere outside his door (Window) during the majority of the year, Sag Harbor is never far from Fenske’s mind. Sag Harbor Panorama was created at his farmhouse in Tavarnelle, just from memory and pictures. While many of Fenske’s paintings are snapshots of everyday life, inviting you to take part (with an open door, or empty seat at the table) this panorama envelopes the viewer, making them feel as if they are really standing at the shore of the Sag Harbor bay.
Fenske melds painting from life and memory in Yellow Dress and Beach, where he no doubt had Amy posing in Italy, and imagined her onto a North Haven beach. In Yellow Dress we are presented with a proper lady, dressed in a flattering summer frock, arms raised behind her head as she pulls her air off of her neck. This gesture, common in the summer heat, exhibits a striking stance of contrapposto; a stance which connotes beauty, as famously captured by Gustave Courbet in The Woman in the Waves (1868), or Edgar Degas in Woman Combing her Hair (1890).
Beach, on the other hand, demonstrates an unsightly posture, where the figure bends over, unclothed, reaching down to pick up seashells. This pose is certainly one anyone can relate to yet is not common as a subject for a major painting. One may recognize this stance in 19th century realist paintings, where painters took to farms to capture laborers gathering wheat as in Millet’s The Gleaners—or the early 20th century paintings from soviet painters Alexei and Sergey Tkachev, (Laundresses 1957). Fenske, however, showcases a nude woman bent over, not engaging in hard labor but on the contrary, taking her time, collecting seashells at her leisure. Fenske is most interested in the way light hits her bent body, accentuating muscles rarely pronounced. Like a student, Fenske is transfixed by the anatomical forms within the human body.
Another two paintings present figures engaged in a beloved pastime, the mid-day nap. One takes place indoors; a nude woman resting comfortably atop a bed; her room a soft hue of yellow. The overall mood of Bed is quiet, peaceful, inert. The Red Dress on the other hand, showcases a frenzy of elements, from the dappled light surrounding the figure, to the motion of the grass vibrating with the breeze. Taking her nap en plein air, she has to cover her eyes from the intensity of sunshine.
New compositions of Lilacs, poppies, and daisies will be unveiled, as well as a series of local scenes that are yet to be painted! Fenske will spend the next month in Sag Harbor, and we are eagerly awaiting his next visions.
